A mayor’s deranged war on transparency

Dolton, Illinois mayor Tiffany Henyard offered a memorable non-mea-culpa when confronting demands for an FBI probe into her spending spree using public funds.

First, she reminded her constituents in the bankrupt small town of Dolton that she is “a black woman in power.” Does that mean she’s bulletproof because of checking off a couple of DEI boxes? Her next step — as a minority politician — was to continue to block demands for access to the city’s financial records and to assure her voters she would continue to “keep loving on them.”

Her warm-fuzzy homilies are wearing thin as hard-working vendors — who fulfilled their contracts to pave highways and maintain foliage -– remain unpaid. It’s difficult for Mayor Henyard to toss out the “r” bomb — racism — because many of her detractors share the same ethnic classification.

Many of those constituents, including unpaid vendors, are pressing city officials to explain how the mayor’s profligate spending was allowed since her first year in office (2021 until present). She didn’t exactly make a secret of her expenditures as she proudly posted her lavish indulgences on social media. Mayor Henyard appeared more like a “Real Housewife of Beverly Hills” than a public servant entrusted with the welfare of 20,000 residents in the mostly blue-collar town.

She is pictured emerging from chauffeur-driven SUVs with security details (estimated at more than $100,000); enjoying trips to posh hotels and first-class travel for herself and other city officials ($67,000); establishing a grossly inflated $300,000 mayor’s salary, and retaining the services of hair and make-up stylists for public events (costs unknown with FBI probe pending). Not to pick on the mayor’s dog, but the canine is featured in her office also laden with jewelry.

Some of the wrongs can be corrected. The mayor has proposed legislation to cap the future mayor’s salary at $25,000. That salary is much more fitting for a town awash in millions in debt. But, too late for the legislation to apply to Henyard.

It is difficult to parody the antics of the mayor given her unorthodox behavior and unprofessional conduct in an effort to thwart any serious investigation into her financial malfeasance.

She actually made national headlines for the manner in which she celebrated avoiding her removal from office based on a technicality. Humility aside, she chose the city chambers to dance to a song by pop star Rihanna in which the title would prove particularly distasteful to unpaid vendors: “Bi*** Better Have My Money.”

Taxpayers have not been remiss in trying to hold the mayor to account, but she would rather not hear from them. She cited “credible security concerns” to lock the chamber doors, refusing entry to her constituents, ignoring the banging on the other side.

Henyard’s takeaway from the financial mess is in keeping with her untenable grasp on reality: “As you can see, our village, our community, myself, we are under attack,” she alleged. “It’s a shame that people can come to meetings and just tell one side of the stories and not get the entire side of both stories.”

Her syntax appears to be as convoluted as her logic. She would be well advised to accept the fact that an FBI probe would prove essential to establishing not “her truth,” but the truth behind the city’s fiscal dilemma. 

“The mayor can blame everybody for what’s going on, but she has to look at herself,” says Edward Steave, a former trustee. He is among the multitude of taxpayers insisting on “transparency” and claims the city’s indebtedness is closer to $5 million rather than the $2 million reported by the mayor.

This saga appears to have reached its zenith of buffoonery — that is, until the mayor chooses to make additional public statements. “You all forget I’m the leader,” she announced at a city council meeting last month. “They want to hear from the mayor. You all ain’t learned that yet.” She wasn’t finished with the dressing down: “The mayor, not the trustees that don’t do nothing. They only run their mouth. You all don’t do no work, no work!”

To date, the mayor has not been charged with a crime: She continues to insist her colleagues’ attempt to enlist law enforcement is “unconstitutional” and demonstrates a “complete disregard for the law.”

It would be difficult to top the irony of the mayor’s statement about the “complete disregard for the law” even in today’s world of tragicomic politics.

Image: Pickpik